Affordable vegetables to be sold on campus next year

Starting next spring, the AUC community will have the chance to purchase vegetables planted by student volunteers at below market prices.

Tina Jaskolski, a research coordinator at the the Desert Development Centre (DDC), says having students plant crops is part of an initiative in association with the Green Hands club to provide sustainability to the AUC community.

The first batch of crops includes eight different types of vegetables - herbs, onions, potatoes, eggplants, carrots, pepper, tomatoes and lettuce.

“The vegetables we are planting are going to be organic and will change each season,” said Jaskolski.

“The project occupies [a space of] 16 by 80 square meters” said Jaskolski, “and we are planting eight plots, each is eight by 10 square meters.”

Although the DDC turned to social media like Facebook to call on students to volunteer for the project, only a dozen or so participated in the initiative.

“We wanted to avoid printing fliers because that’s against the environment but advertised online,” said Jaskolski “the Green Hand’s club used some posters, so there was a bit of advertising.”

Maha Hany, an economics alumna, says the project is worthwhile because it encourages participation on an individual level.

“On a larger scale, a country should not be dependent on another for food supply,” she said.

Seven students have volunteered to maintain the garden in the weeks to come.

Fayza Sadek, a member of the sustainable development committee, hopes “the vegetable planting event will help raise awareness among AUC members”.

“We have different programs coming up this semester, such as the food, waste, and water management projects,” she said.